A View of the South African Plastics Industry

Dave Hills Reports on his return from the ProPak Exhibition

Before getting on the plane, I was really unsure of what to expect at the ProPak 2016 exhibition that was being held in Johannesburg in South Africa. We had recently teamed up with local company Eder Design to develop business for Magnetic Separators and Metal Detectors in the plastics sector and the show gave me an opportunity to gain a first hand appreciation and understanding of the market potential and challenges.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WV7NBQNBz6A&w=560&h=315]

ProPak was a 4 day show focusing on plastics and attendance was excellent even with torrential rainfall and flooding in the general locality on day 2.

Eder Design had one of the largest stands at the show and on display was equipment from Piovan (Italy), Rapid (Sweden), BM Silos (Denmark) and Bunting Magnetic Separators.

Whilst speaking with plastics producers on the stand, it became apparent that the Magnets and Magnetic Separators commonly being used in South Africa were of low magnetic strength. Eder had already sold higher strength Drawer Magnetic Filters to several companies and could see the substantial difference in metal separation performance. They now include them as standard for all new installations.

Customers visiting the stand also commented on a problem with non-ferrous metal contamination and this resulted in a great deal of interest in the Machine Mounted All-Metal Separators (MMS), which is used in conjunction with a Drawer Magnetic Filter.

Over the four days, there was excellent footfall and we have a number of high quality leads to follow up. There is no doubt that South Africa is a challenging market and, even though there is always a focus on price, Eder has built their business and reputation on supplying high quality equipment, commonly from Europe.

Being in the country enabled to gain an understanding and appreciation of the market that would have been impossible sitting in my office in Berkhamsted. It has been great to spend time with the team from Eder and I am sure that this is just the beginning of a very exciting partnership.

Dave Hills is the Head of Sales at Bunting Magnetic Europe.

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